GREENROOM GOSSIP.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 449, 2 March 1899, Page 9

GREENROOM GOSSIP.

[By

Agnotos.]

Business still booming at Harmston’s Circus. The Flying Jordans will probably revisit New Zealand before the year is out. Mr Titheradge, who was through New Zealand last with the Brough Company, has made a hit in a new piece at the London Haymarket. The burlesque of “ Sinbad the Sailor” has been running successfully at the Theatre Royal, Brisbane, in Queensland. The Pollard Opera Company opened to excellent business in Hawera, where they have made themselves great favorites. The Firms’ Pantomime Company opened at the Theatre Royal, Brisbane, with “ The Forty Thieves,” on February 21st. Mr Fred. Dawson, agent for the Jubilee Singers, sailed for Gisborne last week (Tuesday), to make arrangements for the company’s season there.

Wilson Barrett now charges a fee of five shillings for obliging with his autograph. It is stated that he gives lhe money to a theatrical charity.

John Fuller intends taking the Waxworks combination to Dunedin, where they will open just previous to St. Patrick’s Day. The closing performances here are announced. Tenders for the erection of the Wanganui Town Hall and Opera House, in accordance with the. plans and specifications accompanying the accepted designj were called for last week. Bland Holt has substituted “ The White Heather” for “ One of the Best” at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne. 1 He will probably follow the present production with “ The Cotton King.”

The Spectator states that Mr Harry Hill, of the Knight-Ferrar Company, was recently married to Miss Minnie Ascole, a member of the same company. Mr Harry Hill is a son of Mrs Walter Hill.

Mr MacDonald, of the firm of Gardner and MacDonald, theatrical and advertising agents, is in town. He came over with Mr St. Clair, and will prepare the programme for “ The Sign of the Cross” Company here. The Bovis Brothers left Melbourne on February Bth to fill an engagement in Johannesburg, South Africa. Their engagement is with Luscomb Searelle for three months. They will probably visit England after leaving South Africa. Dante is on tour again, with Lohr as his manager. Where has Curtis got to? After all the talk about the American companies he was going to bring to the colonies, he seems to have dropped out of the managerial firmanent altogether. Mr Robert Love, manager of Harmston’s Circus, has made arrangements to give a benefit performance for the Grey Memorial Fund, on his return from his country tour. The performance will take place on March 24th. Miss Ada Crossley has been engaged to sing at twenty concerts organised by Madame Albani for next autumn. She has received a similar engagement from Madame Patti for the year 1900.

Mr Jo. St. Clair is in town in advance for “ The Sign of the Cross” Company. He reports excellent business down South, and states that their new piece, “ Under the Red Robe,” has proved an unqualified success. “ Pygmalion and Galatea,” another production in the company’s repertoire has also “ caught on” well.

M. Leon Caron, the popular musical conductor of The Firm’s Comic Opera Company, leaves for the Old Country shortly on a six months’ leave of absence. - He will be given a benefit at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney, prior to his departure.

I have received a letter, from Waihi, from Mr W. B. Cadzow, the well-known tenor singer, contradicting the rumor that he intends joining Mr Harry Rickards in Australia. Mr Cadzow states that he intends making his home in Auckland for some time to come.

In giving an alleged list of the real names of actresses, as distinct from the theatrical names they have adopted, “ Lorgnette,” in the Wellington Mail, makes, at least, one bad mistake. He states that Pattie Browne’s name in private life is “ Pattie Sallie.” Where he got this idea from I don’t know, but it is incorrect. Her name before she was married to Willie Baumann, from whom she was subsequently divorced, was Sallie Brown, and as such she is known to many of her old Queensland and New South Wales acquaintances.

The Greenwoods have recently been playing through the southern part of New Zealand, and a southern contemporary remarks somewhat in this fashion on their leading lady—“ Mies Maribel Greenwood possibly possesses talent, but it would be much better if she would give up attempting to play leading roles for awhile, and attach herself to some really good company in a subordinate position, and then gradually work her way up. I don’t know who the critic is that wrote this opinion, but he very evidently fished to convey in as delicate a manner as possible that Miss Mabel couldn’t act at all. Whether he is right or wrong I do not presume to say, but I should not like to contradict so clever a fellow critic.

A handsome piece of plate, consisting of a silver American coffee urn, is on exhibition in Mr Eady’s Music Store window. The piece will be presented to the winner of the high-jumping contest, to be held at Harmston’s Circus (Friday) to-morrow evening, on the occasion of Mr Robert Love’s benefit. In addition to this new feature, which is open to all contestants, there will be a complete change of pv gramme, and Mr Love will sing one of his inimitable comic songs. Mr Charles Vass staged “ Struck Oil” at the Drill Hall, Wanganui, on the 23rd and 24th of February. I don’t know who Mr Charles Vass is, although he is advertised as having “appeared as John Stofel successfully throughout Australia,” but I know one member of his company who is a really clever little actress. I refer to Miss Dora Mostyn, who appeared as Lizzie Stofel and who certainly is favorably known in Australia. Although in the full tide of success, Mr John Fuller has decided to bring his season at the Agricultural Hall to a conclusion, as it is imperative that he should fulfil engagements entered into some time back at Dunedin. Mr Fuller is to be congratulated on the excellent series of entertainments he has provided for the Auckland people, and, also, for the very moderate scale of charges for admission. He has certainly met with a very generous patronage, but he has just as certainly richly deserved it. The competitions have excited considerable interest, as well as provoked a great deal of mirth. In fact, taking the show as a whole, it has seldom, if ever, been surpassed in this colony. To night, to-morrow, and Saturday will be the last opportunities afforded for witnessing it, and if there are any who have not yet paid the Agricultural Hall a visit they had better hurrv up.

The Exhibition closed with a nade of trumpets on Tuesday evening. The closing concert was a most successful one, and each number .was heartily applauded. The choruses by the Exhibition choir, with full accompaniment by the orchestra (under the baton of Herr Carl Schmitt), were splendidly given, and the other items were equally enjoyable. Special mention should be made of Mr Towsey’s organ solo, Meyerbeer’s “Santa Maria.” from “Dinorah.”

Babe, the elephant at Harmston’s, is undoubtedly an exceptionally intelligent animal. Some one must have told her that she had received a complimentary notice in the Spobting Review, for while conversing with the manager in the outer tent the other evening I suddenly felt a tug at my coat pocket, and, on turning around to see what was the matter, saw Babe with a satisfied expression oii her face flourishing my paper, which she had cunningly extracted with her trunk.

The Roberts—Moore Company are still doing excellent business in the South, and will shortly be with us in Auckland, following on after “ The Sign of the Cross” Company. Their repertoire includes “ The Silence of Dean Maitland,” the “Trilby” burlesque, “ A Prodigal Father,” and “ David Garrick.” Mr Roberts is stated to have made a distinct hit in the name part of the latter piece Miss Maggie Moore is a decided favorite all over Australasia, and those who saw her when she was last here with Charlie Holloway will be pleased to welcome her back. Her season in Auckland will mark her last appearance in the colonies previous to departing for America and England.

Messrs Holloway (Charles) and Anderson have taken a long lease of the Criterion Theatre, Sydney The theatre will undergo a thorough renovation before their opening night at Easter. Mr Wai. Roekley, an o’d Auckland boy, is visiting New Zealand for his health. He was for two years with Harry Rickards’ Company, and would be with them now but that a bad attack of pneumonia compelled a rest. lam pleased to say that his native air and a trip to Rotorua has pretty well restored him to health, and the probabilities are that he will shortly rejoin Mr Rickards in Melbourne. Mr Roekley has not been in Auckland for nearly twelve years, and has been taking advantage of his visit to renew acquaintance with old friends. A statistician has been devoting himself to a study of the longevity of eminent ballet dancers, and his investigations seem to establish the fact that they are usually a long-lived lot. The famous Carlotta Grisi is living now at the age of 77, and one of the ballet dancers at the Opera in Paris is 70. But he is a man. Amelia Ferraris is still teaching at the age of 78 at Paris, and seems likely to continue that work for some time to come. Fanny Essler was 74 when she died, and Taglioni has passed her 80th year. Rosita Muri, the popular premiere at the Opera in Paris is over 50, and has begun to talk of retiring. The Brough Comedy Company will be in New Zealand within a measurable distance of time, and the opinion of the Melbourne Press is worth quoting The Melbourne Argus says of Mrs Brough in “The Adventures of I ady Ursula”:— “ It may be said, without disparagement of her excellent work in other new pieces recently produced by the conq-anv, flint h-r ’p'-einl qualities are more fully employed than they have been for a long time. The humor, impulsive audacity, and alternations of courage and femine fright, which her part involves, are admirably seized from fii\t to last. . . . Her work enlisted enthusiastic applause.” In view of the approaching season, at the Opera House, of The Firm’s “ Sign of the Cross” Company the following will prove interesting :-*• Mr Wilson Barrett is still raking in the cash fast and furious from “ The Sign of the Cross.” A London paper says that Mr William Greet’s company, which is playing the actor’s religious drama in America, is beating all its previous records this season. At Philadelphia the two weeks’ receipts reached over 22,000d015., Thanksgiving Night being alone 2370d015., the record house for the Chestnut Street Opera House at regular prices, and also being the biggest receipts for that night of any theatre in America. It is always a difficult task for a circus of such dimensions as Harmston’s to give a genuinely complete change of programme, suostituting new items in every case, and that is what Manager Love has accomplished during the past week. I regret that I have not sufficient space at my command to enter in the detail of these changes, and comment on each individual feat, but when all were marked by dispatch, and carried out m a neat and workmanlike manner, it is difficult to discriminate and say which was the best. I must, however, refer to the bareback jockey riding, the like of which I have never seen before. The performer jumps from the ring to a standing position on the horse’s back while the latter is at full speed, landing with his face to the horse’s tail, thus necessitating a twist while in the act of leaping and an utter change of his ertia. The feat is a remarkable one, and more than exceptionally difficult. Several new features have also been introduced into the tumbling (which are very clever), and the jumping is thoroughly up-to-date. The season here closes on Saturday night, after which the circus will make a brief tour through the Waikato and Ohinemuri districts, returning to Auckland in time for the Grey Memorial performance mentioned in another column. ,

Good houses are still the order of the day at the Opera House, and the Original Jubilee Singers and Virginia Concert Company have no reason to complain of the cordial reception that they have met with in Auckland. Their audiences are somewhat different from the average theatrical audiences, embracing as they do numbers of a class of people who seldom, if ever, frequent theatres, while they also include the many lovers of good music in Auckland, who invariably show their appreciation of a first-class entertaiment by a generous patronage. When the company first opened they showed us their ability to amuse and interest by sacred music and jubilee melodies—the latter a typ.e which may be described as sui generis. Now, by their changes of programme, they have proved to us their versatility and absolute grasp of classical music. The miserere scene from “Il Trovatore” was delightfully rendered on Monday evening by Miss Robinson and Madame McAdoo, the latter sustaining the part of Manrico and the former that of Leonora. The duet is a beautiful one, and calls for a clear, sweet tenor voice with considerable compass. It is so familiar to the public that it invites a nicety of criticism that perhaps would not be provoked by a less widely-known selection. For my own part I should very much like to hear the company render the magnificent trio from “ Lucrezia Borgia,” with Madame McAdoo as Gennaro, Eugene McAdoo as Alphonso, and Miss Anderson as Lucrezia. Mr Hamilton Hodgee, who sang with excellent effect “ The Death of Nelson,” would also be heard to advantage in the grand “Carlo Magno” chorus from “ Ernani,” and I am a little disappointed that he has not already given us “ HBalend” from “11 Trovatore.” The other members of the company sustain the reputation they have already made, and Messrs Mills, Jalvin, Nott, Collins, and Miss Marshall Webb are all deserving of unstinted praise. As I said in. a previous issue, Professor White deserves special commendation, and I regret that he has not seen fit to favor the public here with a pianoforte solo, which would certainly make an agreeable addition to the programme. The professor is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music, and was the first one to receive a medal from that institution. The season concludes to-morrow (Friday) night.